Read more
America's Book shows how the Bible decisively shaped American national history even as that history decisively influenced the use of Scripture.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Part I. Creating a Bible Civilization
- 1) The Bible after Independence and before Paine
- 2) The Paine Provocation
- 3) Custodial Protestants vs. Sectarian Protestants
- 4) Francis Asbury and the Methodists
- Part II. A Protestant Bible Civilization
- 5) The Bible Civilization in American History
- 6) Naming, Writing, and Speaking in a Hebrew Republic
- 7) Publishing
- 8) Personal Religion
- 9) The African American Bible
- Part III. Fractures
- 10) Slavery and the Bible before the Missouri Compromise
- 11) Slavery and the Bible, 1819-1833
- 12) Democracy
- 13) The Law and a Christian America
- 14) The Common School Exception
- Part IV. The Eclipse of Sola Scriptura
- 15) 1844
- 16) Whose Bible? (Catholics)
- 17) Whose Bible? (Lutherans, Jews, Nay-sayers, Natives)
- 18) Whose Bible? (Women)
- 19) The War Before the War
- 20) Scriptural Arguments in Context
- 21) The Civil War
- Part V. After the Bible Civilization
- 22) 1865-1875
- 23) The Centennial Divide: 1876 and After
- 24) Protestant Wounds of War
- 25) Protestant Realignments
- 26) Marginal No More (Jews and Catholics)
- Part VI. Toward the Present
- 27) Still A Bible Nation
- 28) An Enduring Cultural Landmark
- 29) Civil Religion
- 30) Still Under a Bushel
- Epilogue
- Short Titles for Notes
- Notes
- Acknowledgments
- General Index
- Scripture Index
- Index of Scriptural Persons and Events
About the author
Mark A. Noll is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. His recent publications include In the Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783 (2016); America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (2002) and, as co-editor, Protestantism after 500 Years (2016).
Summary
America's Book shows how the Bible decisively shaped American national history even as that history decisively influenced the use of Scripture.
Additional text
America's Book requires a commitment on the part of the reader, but the time and effort is worthwhile. The best attributes of America's Book are its depth and breadth, covering many more people, groups, and ideas than can be mentioned in this review.
